Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 2
Glossary Analysis ........................................................................................................................................... 3
Monolingual Glossaries ............................................................................................................................. 3
Bilingual and Multilingual Glossaries ........................................................................................................ 4
Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................................... 5
Sources .......................................................................................................................................................... 6
Annex – Glossary Samples ............................................................................................................................ 7
BPMA monolingual glossary ..................................................................................................................... 7
Filatelia em Portugal monolingual glossary .............................................................................................. 8
Monolingual PT-BR glossary from www.selosefilatelia.com .................................................................... 9
Multilingual “Soares” glossary ................................................................................................................ 10
Introduction
I chose to look for glossaries about Philately.

I browsed the website of João Roque Dias and Proz.com. Those were a good starting point but I found
the best glossaries using Google. There is a lot of information on the internet about stamp collecting,
but a lot of it comes from amateur collectors and it is very difficult to assess its reliability. Unlike other
areas, stamp collection seems to be an area in which the passionate collectors often have more
knowledge than the related commercial or institutional entities. As with other communities on the
internet, there is a lot of information being shared and stamp collecting is a universal hobby by nature,
which forces its enthusiasts to know terms in other languages so that they can trade and exchange
information with their foreign colleagues. Due to this necessity, there were more than a few multilingual
glossaries around.

The selection process was the lengthiest part of this assignment. Since I am not an expert in this subject,
I had to define criteria to assess quality and quantity. Knowing who is behind the sites, their purpose
(commercial, informative, advertising, hobby), the bibliographies used (this was an important factor –
see, for example: http://www.selosefilatelia.com//bibliografia.html,
http://www.caleida.pt/filatelia/biblio/bibl01.html, http://www.caleida.pt/filatelia/biblio/bibl02.html),
the “last updated” date, etc. was helpful. Regarding the glossaries themselves, I analysed the length and
quality of the definitions in the case of monolingual glossaries and I compared multilingual glossaries to
one another so as to check if they were actual translations or nothing but loanwords. Quantity was
easier to evaluate. In most cases, I took a letter as reference and counted the entries under that letter.
Glossary Analysis
Monolingual Glossaries
I found several monolingual glossaries in Portuguese (PT-PT) and in English (both US and GB). Among the
latter, there are two which seem to be extremely reliable since the sources are trustworthy institutions,
namely the USPS (United States Postal Service) and the BMPA (British Postal Museum & Archive).
Although these two sources are the most reliable, there is a big difference in terms of quantity. If we
take the terms beginning with the letter “A” as a sample, the USPS only has seven terms whereas the
BMPA has a staggering 83 terms. This is easily understood if we take into account that the BMPA
glossary is a wiki project, to which the public contributes. Despite this fact, the quality control is very
rigorous and the standard is high. This is the most complete English monolingual glossary I found.

It is worth mentioning that the Collectors Club of Chicago claims to have the largest philatelic glossary,
but the site is now under construction.

Since stamp collecting is an area with a lot of technical terms, there are many abbreviations. To do a
good translation, knowing what the abbreviations mean and what the corresponding abbreviations are
in other languages, is very important. With this in mind, I looked for an abbreviation glossary and I found
one at “stamp2.com”. This website claims to be the “ultimate stamp resource” and although I don’t
usually believe these claims, I found the site to be a very thorough source of information. The
abbreviation glossary has 17 abbreviations starting with the letter “A” out of nearly 200.

Regarding Portuguese (PT-PT) monolingual glossaries, there was one website called “Filatelia em
Portugal” by Carlos Pimenta, who seems to be an enthusiast of stamp collecting but not a professional.
The quality appears to be medium-high and it has 9 terms under the letter “A” heading which makes it a
relatively small glossary. Broadening the search to include Portuguese (PT-BR) I found a very complete
glossary on http://www.selosefilatelia.com/ which is organized by subjects such as: Mail, Collector’s
Clubs, Rubber stamps, Postcards, etc. This glossary is filled with useful information, has a lot more terms
than the “Filatelia em Portugal” one, and has the advantage of including many abbreviations. In terms of
quality, this site is one of the most up-to-date I have found. Besides the glossary, it has a wealth of
reliable in-depth information and the person responsible for the glossary is a member of a philatelic
society (SOFICUR). Therefore, this is the glossary I would use to look up terms in Portuguese which I
can’t find in a multilingual glossary or to check translations or meanings of abbreviations. This glossary is
in acrobat reader format.

All of the glossaries mentioned so far offer a definition of the terms; some are quite short, while others
are longer and offer a lot of information including historical facts, technical details, etc.
Bilingual and Multilingual Glossaries
I found several multilingual glossaries. Many were copies of others. The one that seems to be the best in
terms of quality and quantity can be found on the site of “Professor Soares”. It’s a multilingual glossary
with terms in German, English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese, conveniently aligned in a table,
which makes it very easy to paste into an Excel file. This glossary contains nine entries beginning with
“A”, which makes it as complete a glossary as most of the monolingual glossaries I found. However, it
does have a problem: it lacks abbreviations. I couldn’t find a multi or bilingual glossary of abbreviations.
Regarding Soares’ glossary, there’s also another issue. It is in a Brazilian website. Therefore, the terms
are Portuguese (BR). Nevertheless, I checked many of the words against the only multilingual glossary I
found in a Portuguese website, “Filatelia em Portugal” and there seem to be very few differences
between the terms used in Brazil and those used in Portugal. There was another issue with this glossary,
but it was easily dealt with. The glossary was sorted alphabetically according to the German terms. I had
to paste it into Excel, delete the columns that had the undesirable languages and sort it using the English
terms as reference.
Conclusion

To sum up, I did not find the definitive philatelic glossary, but if I had to choose a bilingual glossary, I
would definitely use the “Professor Soares” glossary. It is the one that has most terms translated into
Portuguese (approx. 300), it is from a trusted source and all the terms I have checked on other
multilingual glossaries confirm the given translations. This is the glossary I would import into wordfast.
Fortunately, we do not have to restrict our choice and I am certain I would use the BPMA, PT-BR and PT-
PT monolingual glossaries too, in order to understand the definitions of some terms and to look up
words, expressions and abbreviations that are not included in the multilingual “Soares” glossary.

Since I would be using different glossaries, I decided not to include a complete one in this assignment.
Instead, I will include samples of the most relevant glossaries I found.
Sources

http://www.caleida.pt/filatelia/gloss/gloss.html - PT-PT monolingual glossary

http://www.caleida.pt/filatelia/diversos/dicion01.html - PT-EN-FR-ES multilingual glossary

http://www.professorsoares.adv.br/filatelico.html - PT-DE-IT-ES-EN-FR multilingual “Soares” glossary

http://www.selosefilatelia.com/Artigosdeterceiros/Album/glossario+de+filatelia.pdf PT-BR monolingual

glossary. Classified according to subject and includes abbreviations.

https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentUpload1View?status=i&langId=-
1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10001&HTMLName=philatelicglossary.html&pagetitle=P_Glossary#A USPS
monolingual glossary

http://postalheritage.org.uk/wiki/PhilatelicGlossary - BPMA monolingual glossary

http://www.stamp2.com/library/abbreviate.asp - EN abbreviation monolingual glossary.

Annex – Glossary Samples
BPMA monolingual glossary
Letter “A”

Abnormal Term used for certain stamps produced by De La Rue for Great Britain 1862-1880 from plates which were not put into normal
production.
Accepted Design The artwork approved by a postal administration and passed to the printer for production.
Accessories Basic equipment to aid collecting in addition to stamp albums, stamp hinges, watermark detector, etc.
Accountancy Mark A handstamp applied to international letters prior to 1875 showing the charge to be collected from the addressee.
Additional Halfpenny Tax A charge made by the British Post Office before 1840 on letters transmitted in Scotland if conveyed at any point of
their journey by vehicles having more than two wheels. Also for certain tolls e.g. Menai Bridge.
Adhesive General term for stamps, more specifically those with gum on the back.
Admiralty Official Stamps overprinted with these words were used by H M Admiralty dockyards and other installations on official mail.
Advanced Coated Paper A type of paper devised by Harrison & Sons to prevent the problem of ink absorption in the drying process. The paper
contained a phosphorescent ink that was sensed by automatic mail handling machinery.
Advertisements on Stamps Stamp advertising first appeared in 1840. In Britain the advertising was carried on pictorial envelopes and wrappers
sold by the Post Office, e.g. Mulreadys. Later advertisements appeared on the sheet margins (selvedge), on interleaved pages in stamp booklets
and on labels attached to stamp panes (also in booklets). Also appear on back of stamps e.g. New Zealand.
Advertisements on Postmarks Advertising by slogan postmarks was not adopted until the late 19th Century. Commercial advertising was
banned in Great Britain until 1989. Since then a wide range of goods and services have been advertised.
Advertising Labels Adhesive labels used to advertise a commercial company.
Advice of Delivery (or receipt) An international service adopted by member countries of the UPU (q.v.) in 1891 permitting the sender of a
registered packet, on payment of a fee, to be advised of the delivery of the packet.
AED Affranchie a l'étranger jusqu'a destination, postage paid to destination. (q.v PD).
Aerophilately The collection and study of "Air Mail" stamps and of matters appertaining to the carriage of mail by air.
Aerogramme Term adopted by UPU (q.v.) in 1951 to denote special letter sheets printed on lightweight paper and intended to be sent by
airmail. (q.v. Air Letter).
Affixing Machines Privately manufactured machine for applying stamps to envelopes worked by hand or electricity.
Affranchts Abbreviation for "Affranchissements". A pre-cancel marking found on French stamps used on Official Mail or on bulk postings of
business mail.
Agency An organisation of either public or private enterprise handling and promoting sales of new issues of postage stamps to the stamp trade
on behalf of the issuing Governments.
Air cards Pre-stamped cards devised by Royal Mail in 1993 for airmail use.
Air Covers Envelopes bearing cachets or airmail stamps or other evidence of their being carried by aeroplane etc.
Air Hole Flaw Technical term for an uncoloured area, usually circular, which appears accidentally in a coloured portion of a stamp design.
Air Letter Forms Special letter forms impressed with a sixpenny stamp issued in GB in 1943 to facilitate the writing and handling of air mail
letters.
Airgraph Special letter form used by GB during the Second World War for forces mail overseas which was microfilmed and then reproduced on
arrival at destination.
Airmail Any form of correspondence transmitted by air.
Airmail Labels Member countries of the UPU adopt a standardised blue label for affixing to correspondence sent by air to facilitate easy
recognition, also known as etiquettes (q.v).
Airmail Letter Card A folded letter sheet for British Armed Forces in WW2.
Airmail Stamps Postage stamps expressly providing for prepayment of postage on air borne mail.
Airway Letter Stamps Stamps issued by British European Airways since 1951 and also for a while by Cambrian Airways, for the carriage of
letters between airports and for posting on arrival.
Airstream A service of the British Post Office introduced in 1986 for the bulk posting of airmail packets using postage paid impression and a
distinctive label.
Albino Impression A colourless (uninked) impression of either a stamp (usually embossed) or of an overprint or surcharge.
Album Book designed to house stamps etc.
ALF Automatic Letter Facing machine that prepares mail for automatic cancelling.
All-Over Watermark A single device or pattern covering the whole sheet of paper.
Alpha and Beta Flaws Terms to describe flaws in lithographed stamps. An Alpha Flaw is one which builds up on the litho stone during the early
processes of stamp production. A Beta flaw is one which occurs later because of wear on the stone.
Alphabet Great Britain's first line engraved issues had letters printed in the bottom corners. These, over time, came from four sets of hand
punches having distinctive type faces, known as Alphabets I, II, III, IV (q.v Check Letters).
All Up Service A scheme introduced in 1937 whereby all letter mail sent from the UK to Commonwealth Countries was sent by air at no
additional cost to surface rates of postage.
Ambulant Postmark denoting a Travelling Post Office.
Anaglyph Printing in two colours to give a three-dimensional effect.
Anaglyptography Form of machine engraving which gives an appearance of relief to a print through use of parallel waved lines.
Anchor Printing terminology for a rivet, nail or screw used to fix a printing plate to a wooden or metal mount.
Anchor Watermark Watermark used in certain issues of Great Britain and Colonies. An Anchor is shown in many stamp papers.
Anhyphenate Without a hyphen.
Aniline Water soluble and fugitive ink with a dye base that runs when wetted and fluoresces under a UV lamp
Aniline Colour Printer's Ink with a coal tar base.
Annulé (French) Cancelled.
Anti Tuberculosis Seals Charity label sold to raise funds to combat TB, resembles a stamp but is not valid for postage. q.v Health Stamps
APO Abbreviation for Army Post Office.
A Payer (French) To pay, inscribed on some Postage Due stamps.
A Percevoir (French) To collect, Inscription on some Postage Due stamps.
Approvals Stamps sent by dealers to collectors with the option of buying or returning them before a set date.
Après le Départ (French) Too late.
AR Avis de Réception. q.v. Advice of Receipt
Arc Roulette Method of separating stamps by a series of minute semi-circular slits varying in distance between ¼ and ½ mm.
Archer Perforation Stamps perforated by Henry Archer during his experiments in first applying perforation to postage stamps, (1850-1854).
Archival Paper Paper manufactured to provide resistance to natural aging.
Army Official Overprint on low value British stamps used by district and station paymasters' offices between 1896 and 1904. Victorian and
Edwardian stamps overprinted were used for all their correspondence with the exception of letters to the War Office which were free. (q.v.
Army Service and AS)
Army Post Office The organisation responsible for handling soldiers mail. See also FPO (Forces Post Office).
Army Telegraphs Stamps inscribed either Army Telegraphs or Military Telegraphs were issued between 1884 and 1901 for use by British
Military Forces on manoeuvres.
Aromatic Stamps Stamps that give off an aroma e.g. Switzerland 2001 Chocolate issue which when scratched had an aroma of chocolate.
Arrival Postmark Impression placed on mail by receiving office to show name of office and arrival date. Usually applied on back of
correspondence.
Arrow Block Multiple of stamps, usually a block of four, with an attached sheet margin bearing a printed arrow as a guide to dividing the sheet
for easier balancing of stock.
Art Paper A superfine paper with a surface of china clay giving it a highly enamelled finish for the printing of fine-screen half-tone blocks.
Artwork Artist's painting or drawing serving as the basis for stamp design.
AS Army Service (q.v.) perfin on postage stamp for use by Sudan Military.
As Is Stamps etc sold to collectors at their own risk not guaranteed by the vendor.
Astrophilately Space philately as a theme or topic. A study and collection of stamps, covers and documents related to space exploration.
Athens Prints The first issues of Greece were printed by Meyer in Paris but later printings from November 1861 were produced in Athens.
ATM q.v Automatic Teller Machine.
Auctions A widely used method of buying and selling stamps.
Authentication Expert opinion that a stamp or other philatelic item is genuine.
Autogiro Mail 1930s experimental aircraft that carried mail over short but congested routes.
Automatic Franking Machine - q.v. Meter Mark.
Automatic Letter Facing Machine Machine invented by GPO in 1957 for use in letter sorting offices. The machine arranges letters so that the
stamps on them are all in the same position.
Automatic Machine Perforation Type of perforation applied to vertical spaces between stamps of New Zealand (1905-6) and USA (1906-12).
Automatic Sorting Machine Early sorting machine developed by the post office.
Automatic Stamp Machines installed at certain post offices and elsewhere for the supply of adhesive stamps by putting the money into a slot.
Automatic Stamps Any impression applied directly to a postal packet or to a gummed label for fixing to a postal packet dispensed by a coin-
operated machine.
Automatic Teller Machine Machine used by banks for dispensing cash. Has been adapted in the USA and Australia to dispense special small
sheets of self adhesive stamps.
Autres Objects (French) Other Articles. A category of International Mail that is made up of various classes of printed matter, small packets,
matter for the blind.
AV2 A UPU (q.v.) Form stating weight of registered and non registered airmail (q.v OAT).
Average A stamp with poor margins or perforations cutting into design, also maybe a heavy postmark.
Avis de Reception Permits the sender, upon payment of a fee, to be notified of confirmation of delivery.
Azemar Early type of postmarking machine devised by J.G. Azemar in 1868 and used experimentally in London between February 1869 and the
end of 1872.

Filatelia em Portugal monolingual glossary

Letter “A”

Aerofilatelia
Divisão da Filatelia que compreende as colecções de selos e documentos postais relacionados com o correio aéreo
Adelgaçado
Estado de um selo cujo papel sofreu uma diminuição de espessura num ou mais pontos. Trata-se de um defeito que é frequentemente
provocado ao descolar-se um selo do papel onde estava colado ou, ao arrancar uma charneira. O selo adelgaçado sofre uma desvalorização,
dependente da sua raridade.
Aerofilatelia
É a parte da filatelia voltada para o coleccionismo e o estudo de selos e documentos postais relacionados com o correio aéreo.
Aerograma
Chama-se assim a um inteiro postal de correio aéreo
Álbum
Conjunto de folhas onde se dispõem os selos que compõem a colecção.
Amostra
Selos sem valor de franquia, distribuídos a titulo de promoção. Tais selos costumam trazer impressas palavras como «amostra», «specimen»,
«muestra», «Munster», «sagio» ou simplesmente uma ligeira tarja num dos ângulos do selo de modo a inutilizá-lo para o uso
Analógico
Terminologia utilizada modernamente para caracterizar o Postal Máximo cuja figura do suporte apresenta, apenas, certa analogia com o
motivo do selo No Máximo analógico falta, portanto, ou é mínima, a concordância de motivo.
Assemelhados
Diz-se de uma série de artigos que são comercializados pelos correios, capazes de substituir a utilização do selo no franquiamento. Os
assemelhados, em geral, são portadores de um selo impresso, tal como no caso do Bilhete Postal. Todavia, outros assemelhados existem que,
mesmo não exercendo a função do selo, são admitidos nas colecções, como é o caso dos carimbos.

Monolingual PT-BR glossary from www.selosefilatelia.com

Samples from Abbreviations:

GREV: Do inglês General Regulations of the FIP for the EValuation of competitive exhibits at
FIP exhibitions. Regulamento Geral da FIP para a Avaliação de Participações Competitivas em
Exposições FIP. Contém as regras de avaliação de coleções que são comuns a todas as classes
filatélicas.
GREX: Do inglês General Regulations of the FIP for EXhibitions. Regulamentos gerais da FIP
para exposições.
SREV: Do inglês Special Regulations for the EValuation of (a class) Exhibits at FIP
Exhibitions. Regulamento Especial para Avaliação de Participações de uma determinada classe
em Exposições FIP. Cada classe expositiva tem o seu SREV específico, em complemento ao
GREV.

Samples from Correios:

Agência Postal: Agência dos Correios, onde são postadas as correspondências e onde se pode
adquirir produtos dos Correios, como, por exemplo, selos e serviços postais. As mais comuns
são as AC (agências próprias do Correio), as ACF (agências franqueadas) e as AF (agências
filatélicas). Os selos comemorativos são preferencialmente encontrados nas agências filatélicas,
sendo comum às demais a existência somente de selos ordinários.
Caixa Postal: É uma caixa destinada a distribuir correspondência, existente em determinadas
agências postais. A caixa postal substitui o endereço físico do destinatário.
(www.correios.com.br/servicos/precos_tarifas/nacionais/caixa_postal.cfm).
Carta Comercial: É aquela cujo remetente é uma pessoa jurídica, com ou sem fins lucrativos.
Também são consideradas cartas comerciais aquelas cujo remetente seja anônimo.
(www.correios.com.br/produtos_servicos/catalogo/mensagens/carta.cfm).
Carta Não Comercial: É aquela cujo remetente é uma pessoa física, sendo vedada: 1.A
utilização de envelope “data-mailer”, com janela ou envelope plástico (transparente ou
translúcido); 2.A utilização de envelopes com timbre de pessoa jurídica ou com inscrições
promocionais impressas no envelope; 3.A utilização de envelopes contendo timbre indicativo de
nome, profissão e/ou número de inscrição da entidade de classe a qual pertença o profissional
liberal; (www.correios.com.br/produtos_servicos/catalogo/mensagens/carta.cfm).
Multilingual “Soares” glossary
After pasting into Excel and removing unwanted languages:

Letters “A” and “B”

English Português
Abbreviation abreviação
above, at top acima
admission stamp selo de admissão
air-mail correio aéreo
air-mail letter aerograma
air-mail stamp selo aéreo
arrangement of stamps disposição dos selos
attached label, tab appendice
background, ground fundo
bar of varnish faixa de verniz
bars cancel obliteração de barras
below, at bottom em baixo
bisected, halved bipartido
blank field espaço em branco
border of lines enquadrado em linhas
breast plate escudo
broken, interrupted interrompido
Burelage burilagem